The  Truth  About  Shantung 

- - MORAL,  LEGAL,  ECONOMIC  AND  POLITICAL  ASPECTS  - ' 


China  Robbed  to  Save  League 
Japan,  the  Prussia  of  the  East 
The  Tragedy  of  Korea 
Japan  Closing  the  “Open  Door” 
Japanese  Monroe  Doctrine 
Dream  of  Asiatic  Empire 
China  Asks  Only  Justice 


NEW  YORK,  AUGUST,  1919 

CHINA  SOCIETY 
506  FIFTH  AVE. 
new  YORK,  U.S.A. 


The  Shantung  clauses  in  the  Peace  Treaty 

SECTION  VIII  SHANTONG 

ARTICLE  156. 

Germany  renounces,  in  favor  of  Japan,  all  her  rights,  title, 
and  privileges — particularly  those  concerning  the  territory 
of  Kiaochow,  railways,  mines  and  submarine  cables — w'hich 
she  acquired  in  virtue  of  the  Treaity  concluded  by  her  with 
China  on  March  6,  1898,  and  of  all  other  arrangements  re- 
lative to  the  Province  of  Shantung. 

All  German  rights  in  the  Tsingtao-Tsinanfu  Railway,  in- 
cluding its  branch  lines,  together  with  its  subsidiary  property 
of  all  kinds,  stations,  shops,  fixed  and  rolling  stock,  mines 
plant  and  material  for  the  exploitation  of  the  mines,  are 
and  remain  acquired  by  Japan,  together  with  all  rights  and 
privileges  attaching  thereto. 

The  German  State  submarine  cables  from  Tsingtao  to 
Shanghai  and  from  Tsingtao  to  Chefoo,  with  all  the  rights, 
privileges  and  properties  attaching  thereto,  are  similarly 
acquired  by  Japan,  free  and  clear  of  all  charges  and  en- 
cumbrances. 


ARTICLE  157. 

The  movable  and  immovable  property  owned  by  the  German 
State  in  the  territory  of  Kiaochow,  as  well  as  all  the  rights 
which  Germany  might  claim  in  consequence  of  the  works  or 
improvements  made  or  of  the  expenses  incurred  by  her,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  in  connection  with  this  territory,  are  and 
remain  acquired  hy  Japan,  free  and  clear  of  all  charges  and 
encumbrances. 


ARTICLE  158. 

Germany  shall  hand  over  to  Japan  within  three  months  from 
the  coming  into  force  of  the  present  Treaty,  the  archives, 
registers,  plans,  title-deeds  and  documents  of  every  kind, 
wherever  they  may  be,  relating  to  the  administration,  whether 
civil,  military,  financial,  judicial  or  other,  of  the  territory 
of  Kiaochow. 

Within  the  same  period  Germany  shall  give  particulars  to 
Japan  of  all  treaties,  arrangements  or  agreements  relating 
to  the  rights,  title  or  privileges  referred  to  in  the  two  preced- 
ing articles. 


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In  order  that  the  American  people  may 
kfiow  the  facts  in  the  Shantung  contro- 
versy from  a Chinese  standpoint,  the 
China  Society  of  America  has  requested 
the  Chinese  Students’  Alliance  of  the 
United  States  to  prepare  a statement  for 
the  American  public. 

This  Alliance  is  the  official  organiza- 
tion of  the  sixteen  hundred  Chinese  stu- 
dents in  American  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, and  their  membership  is  fairly  repre- 
sentative of  the  best  patriotic  sentiment 
of  the  Republic  of  China. 

We  respectfully  submit  this  memorial 
for  the  thoughtful  and  impartial  consider- 
ation of  liberty-loving  Americans  who  be- 
lieve in  a square  deal  for  China  and  a 
fair  hearing  for  China’s  cause  before  the 
court  of  American  public  opinion.  Amer- 
ica must  not  be  “particeps  criminis”  in 
the  Shantung  tragedy. 

ANDREW  B HUMPHREY, 

Director,  China  Society  of  America, 
505  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


To  the  People  of  the  United  States: 

It  is  the  earnest  hope  of  the  Chinese  Students 
Alliance  that  the  United  States  Senate  refuse  to 
ratify  Articles  156,  157  and  158  of  the  Paris  Peace 
Treaty,  the  part  purporting  to  take  Kiaochow  and 
the  valuable  economic  rights  in  Shantung  from 
China  and  give  them  to  Japan.  Will  you  help  us 
by  using  your  influence  to  that  end? 

China  declared  war  against  Germany  August 
14,  1917.  That  act  legally  cancelled  all  treaties 
with  Germany,  her  concessions  of  railroads  and 
mines  in  Shantung  province  and  the  99  year  lease 
of  Kiaochow.  The  titles  reverted  immediately  and 
absolutely  to  China,  from  which  country  they  had 
been  extorted  by  Prussian  force.  Official  notice 
of  these  facts  was  given  by  China  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  international  law  and  was  duly  acknowl- 
edged by  the  great  powers  including  Japan.  The 
Peace  Conference  had  no  more  moral  or  legal  right 
to  deprive  China  of  these  things  than  it  has  to  take 
California  from  the  United  States  and  give  it  to 
Japan.  As  the  United  States  asked  China  to  de- 
clare war  against  Germany,  how  can  your  country 
now  honorably  help  despoil  China  by  officially  rati- 
fying this  grossly  illegal,  unjust  and  offensive  treaty 
provision?  Please  consider  these  facts: 

China  Robbed  To  Save  League 

1.  The  American  Peace  Mis.sion  does  not  at- 
tempt to  justify  this  spoliation  of  China,  the  trust- 
ing friend  and  war-associate  of  the  United  States, 
on  moral  or  legal  grounds.  The  only  reason  given 
is  that  it  was  necessary  “to  save  the  League  of 


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Nations”.  Japan  would  not  help  form  a League  of 
Nations  unless  given  outright  and  unconditionally 
everything  Germany  had  possessed  in  the  Shantung 
province.  Japan  must  have  the  right  to  oppress  and 
exploit  86,000,000  people  of  a different  race  against 
their  expressed  will  and  to  dominate  the  most  im- 
portant and  sacred  province  of  China,  the  cradle 
of  Chinese  civilization  and  the  birthplace  of  Con- 
fucius, the  hallowed  shrine  of  400,000,000  Chinese. 
Is  that  self-determination?  Is  that  justice?  Is  it 
a safe  and  wise  action?  It  is  as  if  the  peace  con- 
ference had  decided  to  return  Palestine,  the  birth- 
place of  Christ  and  the  sacred  shrine  of  the  Christ- 
ian world,  to  the  possession  of  the  moslem  Turks. 
Of  course  it  will  cause  war,  just  as  w'hen  France 
was  robbed  of  Alsace-Lorraine : 400,000,000  liber- 
ty-loving people  will  not  forever  subm.it  to  cruel 
Oppression  and  dishonest  exploitation  by  an  ir- 
responsible, autocratic  government  dominated  by 
the  military  caste  of  Japan. 


2.  The  New  York  Times  of  June  5,  1919,  pub- 
lished a Paris  dispatch  from  the  Chicago  Tribune’s 
correspondent  in  France,  which  read : “^T  am  told 

on  the  highest  authority  that  Shantung  was  sacri- 
ficed to  Japan  only  after  Chinda,  Makmo  and  Matsui 
had  made  an  open  threat  that  refusal  would  throw 
Japan  into  a “Teutonic  Alliance”.  Italy,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  too  much  loyalty  and  honor  to 
threaten  to  desert  the  Allies  and  join  the  common 
enemy  Avith  which  they  were  still  at  war.  Italv 
asked  only  for  enemy  territory,  not  for  the  property 
of  a co-ally. 


3.  If  the  bribing  of  Japan  to  support  the  League 
of  Nations  could  be  morally  justified,  would  it  not 
have  been  more  just  and  honest  to  give  her  some- 
thing belonging  to  the  United  States  instead  of 
the  acknowledged  property  of  America’s  confiding 
friend  and  war-associate,  China?  We  can  not  be- 
lieve the  American  Senate  or  people  will  desert 
China  in  this  supreme  crisis  and  morally  outrage 
and  offend  400,000,000  Chinese  by  officially  sanc- 
tioning this  crime  against  humanity  and  justice. 

Japan,  the  Prussia  of  the  East 

Japan  boasts  that  she  always  scrupulously  keeps 
her  treaties  inviolate.  But  again  and  again  her 
treaties  with  other  countries  have  been  shameless- 
ly broken  and  treated  as  ‘‘scraps  of  paper”.  Japan, 
whose  officers  were  largely  trained  in  Germany,  is 
the  Prussia  of  the  East,  as  the  following  historic 
facts  prove : 

(a)  Japan,  equally  cruel  and  ruthless  but  more 
clever  and  subtle  than  Germany,  created  in  secret 
a great  army  and  navy  and  in  1894  attacked  peace- 
ful and  unarmed  China  without  notice.  She  did  the 
same  thing  again  in  the  same  way,  when  she  first 
attacked  the  Russian  warships  and  then  later  de- 
clared war.  It  is  the  Prussian  system  adopted  and 
elaborated  by  Japan. 

The  Tragedy  of  Korea 

(b)  On  August  26,  1894,  when  attacking  China, 
Japan  concluded  an  alliance  with  Korea  “to  main- 
tain the  independence  of  Korea  on  a firm  footing,” 


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etc.  In  the  Russo-Japanese  agreement  of  April  25, 
1898,  it  was  stipulated  that  “they  (the  two  govern- 
ments) recognize  definitely  the  sovereignty  and  en- 
tire independence  of  Korea  and  pledge  themselves 
mutually  to  abstain  from  all  direct  interference  in 
the  internal  afifairs  of  that  country”. 

(c)  The  pious  preamble  of  the  Anglo-Japanese 
Alliance  of  1912  read  in  part;  “The  governments 
of  Great  Britain  and  Japan  actuated  solely  by  a 
desire  to  maintain  the  status  quo  and  general  peace 
in  the  Extreme  East,  being  moreover,  specially  in- 
terested in  maintaining  the  territorial  integrity  of 
the  Empire  of  China  and  the  Empire  of  Korea,  and 
in  securing  equal  opportunities  in  those  countries 
for  the  commerce  and  industry  of  all  nations,  here- 
by agree”,  etc.  Article  1 of  this  treaty  says  “the 
High  Contracting  Parties,  having  mutually  recog- 
nized the  independence  of  China  and  Korea,  declare 
themselves  to  be  entirely  uninfluenced  by  any  ag- 
gressive tendencies  in  either  country”. 

(d)  In  the  Protocol  signed  by  Japan  and  Korea 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war,  it  was 
stipulated  that  “The  Imperial  Government  of  Japan 
definitely  guarantees  the  independence  and  terri- 
torial integrity  of  the  Korean  Empire”.  Notwith- 
standing these  sacred  treaty  pledges,  Japan  con- 
trolled and  directed  the.  external  relations  and  af- 
fairs of  Korea  in  1905,  in  1907  prevented  Korean 
representatives  from  getting  a hearing  at  The  Hague, 
and  on  August  27,  1910,  formally  annexed  Korea. 
Korea  is  now  in  revolt  against  the  horrors  of  a 
Japanese  military  despotism  that,  true  to  its  Prus- 
sian teacher,  can  gather  forty  unarmed  and  peace- 


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able  old,  men,  women  and  children  into  a church 
building-  ostensibly  “to  listen  to  instructions,”  and 
then  murder  them  in  cold  blood  with  shot  and 
bayonets  and  then  burn  the  building  to  hide  the 
crime.  And  your  American  missionaries  in  Korea 
are  arrested  and  imprisoned  by  the  Japanese  for 
showing  Christian  sympathy  and  humanity  for 
these  persecuted  people. 

Japan  Closing  the  “Open  Door” 

(e)  The  Peace  Treaty  of  1905  binds  Japan  and 
Russia  “to  restore  entirely  and  completely  to  the 
exclusive  administration  of  China  all  portions  ot 
Manchuria  now  in  the  occupation  or  under  the  con- 
trol of  (their  troops),  with  the  exception  of  the 
territory  above  mention  (the  Liaotung  Peninsula) 
. . . not  to  obstruct  any  general  measure  common 
to  all  countries  which  China  may  take  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  commerce  and  industry  of  Man- 
churia”. 

(f)  Japan  has  since  developed  her  South  Man- 
churian Railroad  into  a great  colonizing  system, 
policing  and  administering  the  surrounding  regions 
by  calling  them  “railway  zones”  and  operating  the 
adjoining  mines  and  giving  preferential  rights,  re- 
bates and  privileges  to  Japanese  subjects  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  foreigners  and  the  natives.  Japan 
refused  to  permit  China  to  build  the  Fakumenn 
Railway  and  the  Chinch ow-Aigun  line.  In  viola- 
tion of  her  sacred  treaty  pledges  and  professions  of 
the  “open  door”  for  China,  Japan  is  rapidly  making 
a second  Korea  of  Manchuria  and  any  time  may 
throw  off  the  mask  and  formally  annex  that  vast 
and  rich  territory 


8 


(to)  Japan  is  closing  the  “open  door”  of  China 
to  other  countries,  and  to  the  Chinese  also,  just  as 
fast  as  she  can  grab  and  swallow  the  successive 
mouthfuls  within  her  reach.  Japan  will  continue 
to  gorge  herself  upon  China  until  her  one-fourth 
of  all  the  people  in  the  world  turn  sharply  to  free 
themselves  forever  from  political  and  economic 
bondage  to  a detested  and  cruel  alien  race.  This 
she  is  doing  in  gross  violation  of  all  her  treaty 
pledges  to  uphold  the  “open  door”  and  territorial 
integrity  and  independence  of  China,  including  the 
Root-Takahira  and  the  Lansing-Ishii  agreements. 
How  long  will  civilized  nations  stand  idly  by  and 
hold  Japan’s  robes  while  she  robs  a temporarily 
helpless  people? 

Japanese  Monroe  Doctrine 

(h)  Japan  has  already  robbed  China  of  Formosa 
and  Korea  and  their  25,000,000  people.  She  drove 
Russia  from  Port  Arthur  and.  then  occupied  it.  Man- 
churia, with  its  20,000,000  Chinese,  is  being  “Benev- 
olently assimilated”  into  a Japanese  province.  She 
has  made  threatening  advances  toward  Mongolia. 

Now  Shantung  and  its  36,000,000  Chinese  fall 
under  her  policy  of  penetration  and  gradual  absorp- 
tion. Japan  has  recently  declared  that  she  would 
return  Kiaodhow  in  full  sovereignty  to  China  if  she 
were  permitted  to  establish  an  exclusive  settle- 
ment in  Kiaochow  and  retain  all  the  valuable  econ- 
omic rights  in  Shantung.  But  it  must  be  under- 
stood that  China  has  never  surrendered  her  sover- 
eignty over  Kiaochow  to  any  party.  Article  1 of 
the  convention  entered  into  between  China  and 


9 


Germany  on  March  6,  1898,  specifically  stipulated 
that  China  reserved  to  herself  all  rights  of  sovereign- 
ty over  the  German  leased  territory  of  Kiaochow. 
It  is  therefore  delusive  for  Japan  to  make  such  a 
declaration.  And  it  would  be  meaningless  for  Japan 
to  return  Kiaochow  to  China  conditional  on  the  es- 
tablishment of  an  exclusive  Japanese  settlement  in 
Kiaochow  and  the  retention  of  the  valuable  econo- 
mic rights  in  Shantung.  To  grant  to  Japan  these 
important  privileges  in  Shantung  would  be  giving 
her  a decisive  “strangle-hold”  upon  the  political, 
economic  and  complete  military  control  of  the 
whole  province.  We  need  only  to  examine  into 
Japan’s  record  in  South  Manchuria  in  order  to  ap- 
preciate the  far-reaching  consequences  of  the  Shan- 
tung clauses  in  the  Peace  Treaty. 

In  January  1915  secretly  and  by  threats  Japan 
imposed  her  notorious  twenty-one  demands  upon 
China,  virtually  involving  the  political,  economic 
and  military  domination  of  the  latter  country.  She 
hinted  at  war  if  China  even  dared  tell  the  truth  to 
the  world.  She  is  attempting  to  monopolize  the 
railroads,  mines,  resources  and  commerce  of  China 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  foreign  countries. 
Japan  demands  that  China  employ  influential  Jap- 
anese as  political,  financial  and  military  advisers ; 
that  it  cede  or  lease  no  territory  to  any  coitntry 
but  Japan;  that  it  have  Japanese  police  the  import- 
ant cities  and  towns  of  China ; that  half  of  all  muni- 
tions be  bought  of  Japan;  that  Japanese  be  allowed 
to  freely  travel,  reside,  trade  and  own  land  and 
other  property  and  operate  mines  in  Manchuria 
practically  without  responsibility  to  Chinese  laws. 


10 


All  this  is  what  Japan  considers  to  be  her  Oriental 
Monroe  Doctrine. 

Dream  of  Asiatic  Empire 

(i)  Japan’s  annexation  of  Korea  and  her  aggres- 
sion on  China  clearly  indicate  that  she  is  seeking 
to  establish  a great  Asiatic  Empire  under  the  Mika- 
do. If  she  should  realize  her  ambition  Japan  may 
bring  under  her  sway  half  of  all  the  people  on  the 
earth.  In  absolute  control  of  the  limitless  natural 
resources  of  Asia  and  an  inexhaustible  supply  of 
good  labor  compelled  to  work  for  nominal  pay, 
Japan  would  be  in  a position  to  produce  cheaper 
than  other  nations  and  thus  ultimately  largely 
monopolize  the  markets  and  wealth  of  the  world 
and  destroy  the  prosperity  of  other  countries. 

(j)  That  dream  to  aspire  is  as  real  to  Japan  as 
was  Germany’s  dream  of  world  conquest.  And  it 
may  be  accomplished,  just  as  Germany  came  near 
success,  because  other  nations  closed  their  eyes  to 
current  events  and  refused  to  believe  any  people 
capable  of  entertaining  such  daring  ambitions.  But 
China,  at  least,  realizes  her  peril  and  understands 
Japan’s  deadly  aims.  China  will  never  submit  until 
utterly  crushed  in  a war  that  will  make  the  Europ- 
ean war  appear  like  a skirmish.  This  is  why  the 
world’s  greatest  war  is  likely  to  be  in  Asia. 

(k)  Should  Japan  succeed  in  subjecting  China 
and  in  organizing  production  and  begin  its  con- 
quest for  the  world’s  trade,  it  would  be  possible  for 
her  to  create  and  support  a great  army  of  perhaps 
ten  or  twenty  million  men  for  use  in  furthering  her 
designs.  Would  not  this  logically  lead  to  an  at- 


II 


tempt  by  that  ambitious  militaristic  autocracy  to 
complete  its  dream  of  glory  by  the  armed  conquest 
of  the  balance  of  the  world?  If  the  human  race  is 
ever  menaced  by  the  so-called  “yellow  peril”  it  Avil) 
be  after  China’s  light  of  liberty  has  been  extin- 
guished and  her  400,000,000  people  have  been  put 
in  bondage  to  imperial  Japan. 

China  Asks  Only  Justice 

The  United  States  won  the  affectionate  regard 
and  confidence  of  China  by  its  act  of  justice  and 
common  honesty  in  the  Boxer  indemnity  matter 
and  by  other  friendly  acts.  We  are  now  struggling 
heroically,  in  spite  of  Japanese  intrigue  and  opposi- 
tion, to  establish  and  maintain  “ a government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people”  in  the 
Orient.  We  desire  only  justice,  a square  deal  and 
a fair  opportunity.  If  Japan  must  have  Kiaochow 
and  the  valuable  economic  rights  in  Shantung,  and 
China  is  to  be  forced  to  enter  upon  the  military  path 
to  regain  her  lands,  freedom  and  independence,  let 
it  be  said  at  least  that  the  republic  of  Washington 
and  Lincoln  did  not  stain  its  hands  with  the  life- 
blood of  a sister  republic. 

; , (Signed)  FENG  HUA  HUANG, 

President,  Chinese  Students  Alliance. 

Livingston  Hall, 

Columbia  University, 

New  York  City, 

August  1,  1919. 


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